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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a computer-aided design system, and more particularly, to a computer-aided design system which supports in an interactive basis the creative and expressive activities of a designer.
2. Field of the Related Art
The design processes of a designer may be categorized into "creative activities" and "expressive activities". Such a design process is illustrated in FIG. 1. The creative activities of a designer include sequentially expanding a combination of certain items of knowledge (and logic results related to such items of knowledge) to achieve a design objective which has been established by the designer. The expressive activities include representing in the form of drawings or the like a design product which may be deemed the final result realized by the creative activities of the designer.
Conventional computer-aided design systems (known as CAD systems) may be categorized into two general types, i.e., systems of the type which simply (geometrically) support the expressive activities of the designer, and systems of the type which support a standardized portion of the design process through a continuation of expressive activities. In other words, the conventional computer-aided design systems generally support only the various expressive activities of the designer.
Such conventional systems have significant drawbacks. In particular, the conventional computer-aided design system cannot support or simulate the creative activities of the designer in achieving the design objective. That is, referring again to FIG. 1, such systems are unable to carry out and simulate the series of thought processes of the designer. Further, with respect to the conventional computer-aided design system mentioned above which supports a standardized portion of the design process through a continuation of expressive activities, such system generally entail a relatively increased size and involve a higher consumption of labor resources. Further, such conventional systems include additional difficulties. That is, each time a new product is to be produced, a new system has to be prepared which is compatible with the new product. Further, since the processing flow of the system is preset, prompt design changes are not feasible. Still further, such systems naturally cannot be applied for simulation of a new product design.
Although various attempts to support and emulate the thought processes of the designer and research in the subject of "intelligent CAD" have been conducted, sufficient analysis and construction of the structure of the designer thought processes has not been realized, and therefore, an "intelligent CAD" system has not yet been developed.